Reverse Plastic Engineering: A Case Study

Reverse engineering, in which a given metal part is deconstructed to understand how it was made before recreating it using plastic, is one of Partwell Group's many specialities. Whether a part is dysfunctional, inefficient or costly or difficult to replace, our reverse engineering service can help. Here we look at a case study in which reverse engineering was successfully used by Partwell Group.

We were approached by a confectionery manufacturer, at whose premises there was an emergent problem with a brass component of a conveyor system. The part in question was repeatedly becoming worn down at an exponential rate and replacement was becoming costly and time-consuming. As well as the part itself wearing down, it was damaging other parts in the process, resulting in a machine that could potentially be out of action completely.

Replacing the part was costly and so continual replacement was no longer an option. Even when the part was replaced by necessity, there was a 6-10 week lead time until delivery, resulting in expensive downtime for the client. What was needed was a fully-functioning part that could be easily and cheaply replaced as required.

The client has been using our services for several years and trusted that our engineers would once again be able to provide a solution. A member of our skilled and experienced team visited the site and the part in question was broken down before being redesigned using the most modern CAD technology and our 5-axis CNC machine. It took just 4 hours to turn the part around, compared to the 6-10 weeks required to source a replacement metal part.

This is just one example of how we have used reverse engineering to create new, high-performance plastic conveyor parts. Find out more about our work in the dedicated 'Case Studies' section of our website.